Category Archives: DNA

Here’s a guaranteed motivation killer: After months or years of dedicated lifting, you realize that you’ll never bench your body weight, jump high enough to reach the rim, or hit double digits on pullups. It’s just not in the cards. You start to wonder why you even bother.

It may seem unfair, but there will always be guys—some of whom inevitably find their way to the bench or squat rack next to yours—who seem born to excel at certain exercises. The truth is, they were. And you weren’t. But that’s no excuse to cancel your gym membership. “Even if your body proportions aren’t ideal, you can still perform exercises that maximize your body’s potential,” says Todd Durkin, C.S.C.S., the owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego.

So don’t give up. Instead, sack up and tackle the problem head-on. Here are some common traits that can lead to frustration in the weight room, and ways to make the most of what you have to build a better body.

Long ArmsThe bench press may be a barometer of masculinity, but it discriminates against long-limbed lifters. While the distance the bar travels does limit both performance and results, long arms can also set you up for injury. A tall man’s balland-socket shoulder joint—the place where his upper-arm bone meets his shoulder blade—is more vulnerable than a shorter man’s. “You actually drive your arm bone into the joint, setting yourself up for rotator-cuff injuries down the road,” says Martin Rooney, P.T., C.S.C.S., of the Parisi Speed School.

The workaround: With medicine-ball throws, you can focus on speed instead of on lifting weight. “You’ll work more of the fast-twitch muscle fibers that come into play during quick movements,” says Durkin. No medicine ball? Do 3 to 5 sets of as many pushups as you can in 30 seconds

Lying Medicine-Ball ThrowLie on your back, using both hands to hold a heavy medicine ball against your chest. Push the ball just high enough into the air that it leaves your hands. Catch it, and immediately bring it back to your chest for the next throw. Do as many as you can in 30 seconds. Rest, and do 4 more sets.

Short Arms“Most of the big powerlifters you see have a short, stocky build,” Rooney says. It serves them well on squats and bench presses. But when the bar starts on the floor, as with the deadlift, short arms force you to drop into a lower starting position. That changes your leverage and adds strain to your back.

The workaround: “With a sumo deadlift, placing your legs farther apart helps your hands start closer to the ground,” Rooney says. It also allows you to begin with a more upright torso, taking stress off your lumbar spine.

Sumo DeadliftStand with your feet about twice shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed out. Squat and grab the center of the bar using an overhand grip, with your thumbs 12 inches apart and your torso almost perpendicular to the floor. Without allowing your back to round, thrust your hips forward and stand up with the barbell. Then lower it, keeping it as close to your body as possible. Do 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Small HandsShort-armed men tend to have smaller mitts; this makes holding the bar harder for them. A small hand’s grip gives out faster, reducing the amount of work you can do on pulling exercises, says Rooney.

The workaround: Since you can’t grow longer fingers, focus on your forearm endurance with grip training, Rooney says. Add these exercises to the end of any workout.

Farmer’s WalkGrab a pair of heavy dumbbells and let them hang naturally at arm’s length next to your sides. Walk forward as long as you can, and then put the dumbbells down and rest. (If you last longer than 1 minute, use heavier weights.) Do this 3 to 5 times.

Towel Bar HangWrap a towel around a pullup bar. Grab the towel using an overhand, shoulder-width grip. Hang for 20 seconds, rest, and repeat.

No ButtIf you rolled a quarter off the back of your head, would it hit anything on the way down? If not, you have a flat back, most likely caused by a pelvis that’s tilted backward at the top. A tilted pelvis puts your lower back in a vulnerable position, setting you up for spinal injuries.

Lying Psoas MarchLie on your back with your right leg on the floor and your left leg off the floor and bent 90 degrees. Loop an exercise band under your right foot and over the top of your left foot. (You can also use a low-pulley cable with an ankle strap, looped around your left foot.) Keeping your right leg steady, pull your left knee toward your chest without your lower back tucking beneath you. Pause, and return to the starting position. Do 10 to 12 reps; switch legs and repeat.

Long LegsFor tall men—basically anyone over 6 feet—the back squat can present two problems, says Durkin. The first involves physics: The longer the bones in your legs, the farther the bar has to travel on each rep and the harder your muscles need to work to lift it. Even with perfect form, you’ll have a tougher time adding size and strength. Men with shorter bones can do more reps with heavier weights.

The second problem is that your form is probably flawed. Longer bones have more opportunity to make false moves. You might struggle to keep your lower back in a neutral position (slightly arched) throughout the full range of motion. Or you might lean forward as you tire, putting stress on your lower back.

The workaround: Choose leg exercises that achieve more with less weight, such as the stepup. “You can work your legs hard but with potentially less back strain,” says Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S., co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training.

Dumbbell StepupHolding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length next to your sides, stand in front of a step or bench that’s about 18 inches high. Place your left foot flat on the step; your left knee should be bent 90 degrees. Push your left heel into the step and lift yourself up until your left leg is straight and you’re standing on one leg on the bench. Lower yourself to the starting position. Do 8 to 10 reps and switch legs. To make it harder, place a barbell across your back.

Flat FeetEveryone is born with flat feet, but most people develop their shock-absorbing arches in childhood. Sometimes, however, the arches never form properly, or they fall from repeated stress, injuries, or some combination of the two. Either way, you end up with feet that can pronate—roll inward—when you walk, run, or jump.

Flat feet can also limit your strength and power in the weight room. “When you pronate, you’re in deceleration mode,” says Cressey. “Your foot needs to roll in the opposite direction to push off.” That affects your strength on squats and deadlifts, and acts like ballast when you jump.

The workaround: Your glutes and hamstrings act as “anti-pronators,” Cressey says. Strengthen them, and you can compensate for the loss of power caused by your feet.

Hip RaiseLie faceup on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Raise your hips off the floor by flexing your glutes so your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. Pause, and lower your hips. Do 3 sets of 15 reps; when it becomes too easy, lift one foot off the floor and do a single-leg hip raise. Start with your weaker leg and repeat the set with your stronger leg.

Like this:

Scientists have zeroed in on one apparent key to long life: an inherited cellular repair mechanism that thwarts aging and perhaps helps prevent disease. Researches say the finding could lead to anti-aging drugs.

The study involves telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that have been likened to the plastic tips that prevent shoelaces from unraveling. Telomeres were already known to play a key role in aging, and their discovery led to this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine.

The new study, which focused on Ashkenazi Jews, finds those who lived the longest had inherited a hyperactive version of an enzyme called telomerase that rebuilds telomeres.

In effect, centenarians tend to have a top-notch body mechanic at work 24/7 repairing the hardware that runs the body, versus a normal person whose body’s cellular control center is left to wear out with time.

“Humans of exceptional longevity are better able to maintain the length of their telomeres,” said Yousin Suh, associate professor of medicine and of genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. “And we found that they owe their longevity, at least in part, to advantageous variants of genes involved in telomere maintenance.”

The results are detailed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Telomeres are short bits of specialized DNA that cap the chromosomes, which tell a cell what to do. Over time, cells divide over and over to keep the body alive. But with each cell division, telomeres get shorter. When they become too short, the cell stops dividing and lapses into a state called cell senescence. Vital tissues are no longer produced, and organs start to fail.

In the new study, Suh and colleagues studied Ashkenazi Jews, a homogeneous population whose genetics are well-studied. Three groups were part of the research: A very old (average age 97) but healthy group of 86 people; 175 of their offspring; and a control group of 93 offspring of parents who lived a normal lifespan.

“Our research was meant to answer two questions,” explained said Einstein researcher Gil Atzmon in a statement. “Do people who live long lives tend to have long telomeres? And if so, could variations in their genes that code for telomerase account for their long telomeres?”

“Yes” on both accounts, the scientists conclude.

The old crowd had “inherited mutant genes that make their telomerase-making system extra active and able to maintain telomere length more effectively,” the researchers write. “For the most part, these people were spared age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which cause most deaths among elderly people.”

“Our findings suggest that telomere length and variants of telomerase genes combine to help people live very long lives, perhaps by protecting them from the diseases of old age,” Suh said. “We’re now trying to understand the mechanism by which these genetic variants of telomerase maintain telomere length in centenarians. Ultimately, it may be possible to develop drugs that mimic the telomerase that our centenarians have been blessed with.”